Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school.That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.Could she leave Jeb and her parents behind again, for the sake of a man she knows has manipulated her before? Will her mother and Jeb trust her to do what’s right?

Did I like Unhinged?

Did I like Unhinged as much as I liked Splintered?

The Wonderland of everyone’s nightmares is back, although almost all of this book takes place in the human realm. Alyssa is dealing with aftermath of her trip down the rabbit hole, lying to Jeb about it (or well, not bringing it up at all since he doesn’t remember it anyway) and secretly seeing Morpheus in her dreams. But when Morpheus shows up for real, urging Alyssa to return to Wonderland to take the throne so the threat of Red will be vanquished, things start getting weird too close to home. Alyssa learns new things about the people she loves that she never thought possible, all while trying to figure out Red’s next move.

Unhinged brings back Alyssa, Jeb, and Morpheus in the love triangle that seriously needs to go die a painful death. This is that rare series where I don’t really fancy either guy. If I had to choose, it would hands down be Morpheus. He’s much more interesting than Jeb, and he’s dark, magical, mysterious, seductive, and well, pretty awesome. Jeb is annoying, bossy, and for some reason, when things get bad he’s like I AM NOW GOING TO TELL EVERYONE WHAT TO DO EVEN THOUGH I AM THE LEAST QUALIFIED TO DO SO.

Not to mention that he’s a JERK to Alyssa. But seriously.

I did miss Wonderland; Splintered was so richly detailed with the crazy, nightmarish world, and it was woefully lacking in Unhinged. There are certainly inhabitants of Wonderland merging into the human realm, but it’s nothing like falling down the rabbit and seeing it all through Alyssa’s eyes. I can only hope Ensnared returns us to Wonderland.

There were some very interesting twists as the story progressed. I wasn’t expecting quite a bit of what ended up happening. The writing itself is great, with rich detail; it’s a very visual book, with Howard describing any and everything (especially clothes). I would have liked more Wonderland elements, but I can see why they were a bit scarce. Now if only we could get rid of this ridiculous love triangle that is a POISON to this story.